Beautiful Partnership Indeed
by newbie93
Summary: Jemma Simmons is well aware of the fact that, of all the cadets at the Academy, Leo Fitz is the most intelligent, most interesting, and most likely to hate her... meaning she's more than a little appalled when she's partnered up with him in their shared chem lab.


_**All characters belong to the big wigs at Marvel and AoS. Written for FitzSimmons week on Tumblr. Day #3 Prompt: First/Last**_

When Leopold Fitz crashes into her outside of their latest shared lab and proceeds to bolt without so much as a sorry, Jemma Simmons realizes that nothing she says or does will ever get that Scottish prick to remove the stick from his bum and stop hating her.

She'd realized fairly quickly that he was really the only interesting, and intellectually stimulating, cadet at the academy, and had promptly realized _just_ as quickly that he apparently did not feel the same way about her. Or, he did and decided that she was to be his rival rather than professional colleague.

Either way, Leopold Fitz has been giving her the silent treatment since day one and, if he hadn't been one-upping her by answering half of their professor's questions first, Jemma would wonder if he could even speak at all.

She rolls her eyes as his curls disappear into the chem lab and follows at a far less hurried pace, walking confidently into the room and placing herself at a lab table that will no doubt be conducive for the most optimal learning experience.

She opens a small notebook as the rest of her classmates begin to filter in, jotting down various equations and notations dealing with a side-project she's been stuck on for the past few weeks. She writes mindlessly for a few minutes before she hears someone clear their throat at the front of the room, immediately getting the attention of the students.

The older gentleman standing in front of the rather rudimentary blackboard roves his eyes over the class until a hushed silence fills the room. He looks a bit intimidating, hands clasped behind his back and sharp gaze taking in everything before him, and Jemma is struck with the feeling that this course will likely be the most significant of the term.

It's silent for a few more moments before the man picks up a clipboard and begins speaking to the students who are staring at him with rapt attention.

"Most professors at this academy enjoy utilizing last names when it comes to assigning lab partners…"

 _They certainly do._

Jemma glances to her left at Lucy Smith, who is already stationed at the table beside to her, and gives her inevitable lab partner a small smile that is quickly reciprocated. The other girl is nice enough, and she certainly won't _hinder_ any work, but a small part of Jemma wishes that she were just a _tad_ closer to her intellectual level. Still, looking around the room, Jemma realizes she could be _much_ worse off, and thanks her lucky stars that she finds Lucy to be so tolerable.

"…but I am not most professors."

 _These_ words catch Jemma's attention and the small smile that is still on her face drops immediately at the realization that, perhaps, she's thanked those floating balls of gas too soon.

 _Random assignment? Paired by height?_

Her eyes flicker around the room and she winces as her gaze lands on a few cadets whom she _knows_ will only slow her down in the long run. A slow panic begins to engulf her as her dreams of staying at the top of the class float out the window at the thought of being paired with _Dave Reynolds._ The boy in question gives her a leering grin when he catches her eye and Jemma shivers at the 1 in 22 chance that she'll be stuck with him for the remainder of the year.

"I find that the tried and true method of partnering up is to go by _first_ names."

 _First names. Alright, that's not so bad._

Her eyes shift around the room again as Professor Hall begins to rattle off partners, mentally crossing off names as she tries to figure out who she'll wind up working beside for the foreseeable future.

 _The small number of the advanced course means that she's the only J. There aren't any K names in this class meaning that she'll likely be with a late I or an early…_

 _An early L. Oh no._

Her eyes zero in on the boy in the farthest corner of the room, heart hammering in her chest as she counts the students in the course and _prays_ that the number will mean she's with Isobel Astin. Because Isobel is the _last_ of the I's and if Jemma isn't with an I than she'll be with the top of the L's. And the first of the L's is…

"Jemma Simmons and Leopold Fitz."

She watches the boy's head snap up from whatever he's been mindlessly doodling, mouth dropping open and eyes widening as he catches her gaze across the room. The moment their eyes meet, Fitz snaps his notebook- _and_ his mouth- closed, shoving it into his knapsack with more force than is strictly necessary before striding across the room with his head down, planting himself in the now vacant stool at Jemma's side.

There's a palpable tension and Jemma can feel more than one pair of eyes directed towards her and Fitz. She can feel the beginning of a headache as she thinks about the utter nightmare that this course, more accurately this _partnership,_ will be and sighs at the realization that she's completely and utterly stuck with Leopold Fitz.

There's no point in pleasantries since they'd already gotten off on the wrong foot, so Jemma just hums noncommittally and says, "Fitz," in obligatory greeting.

His responding, "Simmons," seems just as forced and Jemma wonders how a person can make a two-syllable word sound as though it's the equivalent to having teeth pulled.

 _Ah yes, the beginning of a beautiful partnership._

-O-

For the first week they barely even speak to each other, just giving obligatory (and naturally _short)_ answers to questions and doing everything in their power to stick to their sides of the lab space.

It actually isn't all that bad until Jemma stumbles across a roadblock in her work and mumbles a few _off-color_ phrases that leave Fitz gaping at her as though she'd committed murder. She gives him a quick apology before pushing her hair back in irritation and crossing her arms as she looks down at the notes she's been scribbling for the past three classes.

She startles slightly when, out of nowhere, Fitz appears in her periphery, arm snaking forward and jotting something in his messy scrawl in the corner of her notebook. He's gone just as quickly, back on his side writing his own notations, and Jemma narrows her eyes at his audacity.

One doesn't just _write_ on someone else's research.

She's about to verbally say as much when she catches what it is Fitz had actually written and feels her mouth drop open at the fact that, in less than ten seconds, her lab-partner had taken a ton of C4 to her mental roadblock.

The messy scrawl triggers something in her and her hand begins moving almost as fast as her brain, filling in numbers and equations and listing all of the new information that has come to her.

She's written ten lines of notes before she stops looks up at her lab partner and says, " _Thank you_ Fitz," in a tone that is far more sincere and far less forced than normal.

He looks up in surprise at her words, blinking quickly before ducking his head back down with a soft, " 'Welcome," that Jemma can barely hear.

-O-

By the third week, despite the fact that they still only speak about their work and academics, Fitz and Jemma have further cemented themselves as the brightest at SciTech. Their work is flawless, their research is naturally groundbreaking, and their conversations are growing less stilted each day.

They've just given a presentation in chem lab that professor Hall is _still_ raving about and Jemma tuned the older man out after the fourth, "What cadets Fitz and Simmons did," far more interested in writing down some more variables that might impact her dendrotoxin project.

It's not until Hall says, "Well done FitzSimmons. Truly, well done," that Jemma's head snaps up. It's the first time she's hear the portmanteau but, based on the neutral faces of her peers, it's certainly not the first time it's been _used_.

She glances over at Fitz, whose brows are furrowed, and waits for him to catch her eye before shooting him a silent question. When he _does_ catch her gaze, his cheeks redden slightly and he just shrugs in response before leaning forward and whispering, "You know, for someone so interested in, 'straying from the norm,' and not pairing up people by last name… he sure does bloody use ours enough doesn't he?"

Jemma can't stop the startled laugh that escapes her as she looks over at Fitz with a grin.

His eyes snap up at the sound of her laughter and an almost pleased smile makes its way across his face at the realization that she's laughing because of _him._ His cheeks redden again and his hand moves to rub his neck in what Jemma has learned is a nervous habit.

The bashful smile coupled with the movement causes Jemma to sober slightly as she thinks about how often she's seen Fitz alone. After three weeks she knows that her initial assessment of him was spot on: he's clearly the smartest one here, and the most interesting as well. And yet, she's never seen him in the Boiler Room or hanging out with other cadets.

Just as she realizes this, the bell rings and the lab is filled with the sound of stools scraping against the floor and the inane chatter of her peers. Fitz is shoving his notes in his knapsack, much as he had three weeks prior, and Jemma notes that he's moving far slower than before. When all of his belongings are safely stored away, he looks up with a small smile and a soft, "See you Simmons."

He barely makes it to the door before Jemma is calling out for him.

"Hey Fitz?"

He all but whirls around, looking at her in surprise as if shocked that she's willing to speak to him after their 60-minute obligatory partnership is up. He's fidgeting slightly, feet shuffling on the floor as his hands fiddle with the straps of his backpack.

"Yeah?"

"I'm having a bit of trouble with this project I'm working on and… well, based on how much we excel when we work together, it seems as though combined we're twice as smart. Would you mind grabbing lunch and looking over it with me?"

He blinks in surprise, mouth opening and closing a few times before a smile breaks out across his face and he begins to nod eagerly. "Y… yeah sure! I'd lov… I mean… I'd really like that Simmons."

The answer causes Jemma to release the breath she didn't know she was holding and throw her bag over her shoulder as she moves to meet him at the door. She mirrors his smile with her own before saying, "Fantastic! How do you feel about prosciutto?"

-O-

By the end of lunch they've poured over their individual research, making suggestions and notations before realizing that _combining_ their projects would result in groundbreaking innovations.

By the end of the night they've marathoned series one of Dr. Who, established that Fitz only likes a _hint_ of pesto aioli on his sandwiches, and have argued at great length the pros (Fitz) and cons (Jemma) of having monkeys in a laboratory setting.

By the end of the week Jemma realizes that she was right on that first day of Professor Hall's class. His course was the most significant of the term because it really _was_ the beginning of a beautiful partnership.

(It was the beginning of FitzSimmons)


End file.
